Armchair travel in Nova Scotia

Mon, 06/09/2008 - 2:35pmadmin

At the June Beta Sigma Phi meeting, Shirley Griffin presented a program of her tour of Nova Scotia. She told of how she and her friend, Betty Faulk, flew to the city of Old and New Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Shirley’s heritage as part of the Broussard family, was that in 1755, they were involved in aiding the Acadians from Nova Scotia.

With visual aids such as photos, pamphlets, and her lovely painting, Shirley brought her trip to life while she shared her story with us.

After arrival at Halifax, they walked around the area. Later, at a reception in a building at Pier 21, they met and ate with 48 other tourists.

As they traveled by bus, they stopped at St. Peter’s for lunch, and attended mass at Prince Edward Island.

At Charlotte town, they attended the musical of the most famous story of Anne of Green Gables at Avonlia. On a seven mile tour by lobster boat, they went to see the whales at sea.

They mostly slept in fine hotels, but once they slept in a 1929 old hotel. In the middle of the night, the fire alarm sounded. They threw on robes, shoes, and grabbed their purses before exiting. When the fire trucks arrived, they discovered water that had leaked into the alarm system, causing the fire alarm to go off. It was a scare.

At breakfast, they had delicious fruit, bread, and lots of seafood. For dinner, they were served steamed lobster.

They visited the fort that the British and French fought over many times. At one point, they overlooked a cliff as a youngster played the bagpipes.

The highlight of the tour, Shirley said, was the Grand Pré, which served as one of the chief settlements of Acadia.

There, in 1755, the Acadians made a final refusal of the British oath of allegiance, which resulted in a force of New England Colonial troops gathering up the inhabitants of Grand Pré and deporting them.

The famous poem of Evangeline in which Longfellow described the act of deportation of the Acadians. They viewed the statue of Evangeline and bronze statues of the Acadians as they fled in an open field.

As they traveled, they saw sand beaches, sand figures, and graveyards. At Port Royal, they viewed the house, chapel and bar made of bottles.

After ten cold but beautiful days, they returned to Lafayette.

At the close of the program, Shirley served refreshments of fruit and blueberry scones to Beta members Jean Hanks, Nancy Tislow, Elsie Rowell, Jane Love, Clementine Kirsch, Gloria Stutes, and guest Betty Faulk.

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